-The Toronto Raptors are rolling. A shocking 102 to 101 win over the Boston Celtics this afternoon at the Air Canada Center means their third straight win, and their fourth in their last six matches. It was a fight to the finish as Toronto blew an 11 point lead late, but this Raptors squad fought to the bitter end as they've done in almost every game so far this season.
-Leading the way for Toronto? How about Toronto's big men; Andrea Bargnani, Reggie Evans and Amir Johnson. Bargnani played the role of offensive catalyst by pumping in 29 points, including hitting on 9 of 13 free throws. He had only 2 rebounds but who needs him to rebound when Amir Johnson and Reggie Evans had a combined 27?! Evans did the dirty work as usual but Amir Johnson was the hero down the stretch. He hit all 9 of his free-throws including the big final two with less than 3 seconds in the game, that gave Toronto the win.
-For Boston, it was the opposite story. Glen Davis and KG both had 12 points but spent most of the afternoon trying to put a lid on Bargnani, while Shaq lumbered his way to only 8 points and 5 rebounds before fouling out late. And while Nate Robinson, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce all had good scoring games, too much of that scoring came in the first quarter (Nate had 18 of his 22 in that Q.) And Pierce had a chance to win it at the buzzer, but his shot didn't go down.
-Up next for the Dinos? How about a rematch against the 76ers and a good opportunity to grab a fourth straight victory. Toronto's newest members will be in the line-up for that one, but considering how effective Triano's shortened 8 man rotation was today, it'll be interesting to see if the team tries to force Peja and Jerryd into immediate duty. Triano coached a good game with the 8 men he used so it'll be tough to stomach a bad loss at the expense of trying to show off guys like Peja.